Nah. People still seem to hanker for a conspiracy theory to explain the perfectly obvious JFK shooting forty plus years later, and don’t even get me started on global warming denial.

“Look: $100 PC after rebates, stamps, coupons, phone scams, distracting the kid at the till, passing a five off as a fifty, poking an old man in the eye, pre-tax, post-closing down sale, during a fire, only while stockpiles last, terms and conditions may apply…

Have you ever noticed that these “Mac vs PC Prices” articles always pop up ONLY when a new Mac is released? At the cusp of a new Mac cycle then a Mac does compete reasonably well with a New high end PC. But why don’t they compare them 6months later when the same PC has dropped in price according to the market value and that same old Mac costs that same old price it did last year.

“B) Apple doesn’t make as many models as all the other PC makers combined.”

Wouldn’t that be true of every computer company? For instance, let’s say Dell makes 50 models, and all-the-other-PC-makers-combined produce 450 models, therefore “Dell doesn’t make as many models as all the other PC makers combined.”

Is this just one of the weird instances where a particular combination of words can be justifiably interpreted another way, and I’m just not seeing it?

I assume you’re trying to repeat the point ComputerWorld made: Apple sells comparatively few SKUs. If so, I can’t think of a way that the word “combined” will help make that point. Perhaps instead: “Apple makes fewer models than any other PC maker.

@Splashman: Sure, Dell could also face the same comparison, but it’s less dramatic.

Apple, by being the only Mac maker, does get compared to all Windows PC makers combined. “Oh, it doesn’t have a killer game machine and it doesn’t have a $400 junker.” It’s often phrased as the difference between 450 choices for Windows-based machines but only 9 for the Mac.

That’s a good point. Apple do keep their prices frozen too long, and make a weird ever-decreasing curve of value for money out of every model that way until BOOM it’s suddenly refreshed without warning.

We Mac geeks know our dates for MWSF and WWDC, and we check the guides so we’re not caught out unawares, but it’s not uncommon for retailers to have to deal with angry customers who just bought and now mere days later find there’s a better model and at lower price. Rightly enough, they feel burned. Wrongly, there’s nothing Apple Store or 3rd party dealers can do about it, thanks to Apple secrecy.

Secrecy is nice for some things like the iPhone announcement which MS have even tried to clone with their Surface demo, while missing the point entirely. But it’s a pain in the backside for actual customers who aren’t aware of the rumours and the next date a big announcement is likely due. Bad Apple, bad!

So yeah, I’d like to see comparisons done by several writers at the same time (each with a different axe to grind) and at a more reasonable / randomly selected date and price point. If you spot any such objective and fair journalism, don’t forget to faint because you’ll be extraordinarily lucky!

One thing to consider also is that PC prices are so low now they can almost be viewed as disposable. A Core2 notebook for $5-600 isn’t hard to come by so is the “Macs are a better longterm value” even relavent anymore when you can annually update a PC and still pay less for better specs? Using two average consumers (me and the wife) here’s a real world example of “Cheap PC vs Mac”

If we start looking long term and next year she’ll update her specs for $600 again and spend $1800 in 3 years and I’ll (finally) upgrade my 2yr old Macbook to put my 3yr total at $3000. I love my Mac but if you step back and look at these prices without bias then clearly there is some incredible value in being cheap.